In The Clark Building and at the Heart of Downtown Bangor
The Spiral Goddess Collective is a Center for Mind/Body Movement, and so much more.
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A Space with a View . . .From the 4th floor of The Clark Building, the view is breathtaking (that's why we remind people to breathe!). From the front windows we see the Kenduskeag River. From the back windows we see the sculpture in the back gardens of the University of Maine's Zillman Art Museum. In between, healing modalities move us and we can reflect upon our personal and collective culture, art, and history, as well as our relationship to the past, present, and future.
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. . . A Center with a ViewpointAt SGC, we believe that food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, education, and access to the public sphere are basic human rights. We believe that power-over systems and structures cause and perpetuate oppression and trauma and that oppression and trauma are responsible for most of the mental, physical, social, and environmental health challenges that plague our country and our world. We believe that more people need access to these basic needs as well as healing modalities like conscious dance and yoga and that we must also work collectively to transform these systems and structures so that we can live with more joy, love, connection, and peace.
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Collage by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, a self-described "Queer Black Troublemaker and Black Feminist Love Evangelist and an aspirational cousin to all sentient beings."
Edner Fago's October 2024 display. "Grounded in Light"
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Curated The Spiral Goddess Collective Collection of Fierce Feminist ArtIn the SGC space, we pay tribute to diverse examples of spiral goddesses through art and resources. We provide opportunities to learn more about inspirational figures like "Hip-Hop Queens," through the oracle deck written by Kathy Iandoli and illustrated by Monica Ahanonu and "Literary Witches" through the oracle deck written by Taisia Kitaiskaia and illustrated by Katy Horan.
The lending library of "Girls on Fire" books (mostly young adult dystopian literature), and the art of Alexis Pauline Gumbs, provide a tribute to the genius science-fiction and speculative fiction writer, Octavia Butler and other authors inspired by her works. 
The air corner at SGC, artwork by Gretchen Haggard
Labyrinth meditation card designed by Yadina Clark for our two-year anniversary celebraton
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Collective Lounge & RefreshmentsIn the back of the Center we have a lounge space for relaxing, socializing, and individual consultations. This space includes comfortable seating and a lending library of resources related to yoga and conscious dance.
We also always have some chaga tea and some snacks. Chaga is a mushroom that grows on birch and other trees and has been found to have potent antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. Chaga tea has been shown to help protect the brain from neurodegeneration and improve memory, mood, focus and concentration. It is an alternative remedy for things like arthritis and high blood pressure and may also help reduce blood sugar and slow the progression of cancer cells. |
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My Sister's Closet
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My Sisters' Closet is a clothing exchange open to our collective community. Bring your lightly used active wear to trade or make a donation to our scholarship fund.
My Sisters' Closet, is a collaboration with Cara Oleksyk from Red Rabbit Bazaar. Any active wear they collect at their monthly pay by pound event will be donated to The Spiral Goddess Collective where community members can trade their own lightly used active wear or donate to the Spiral Goddess Collective Care Fund and update their clothing for more comfortable movement. |
Collage by Sarah Coffey
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The Sacred Elements & Transformative SpaceEach of the four corners is dedicated to one of the sacred elements of earth, water, fire, and air, while the ceiling represents ether (or space)--the expanse that contains endless possibilities and everything that is bigger than we are. (You may even find an alien meditating among us!)
Plants nurture our exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide as we breathe new possibilities into our lives and the cooling breeze in the summer keeps the space fresh and the temperatures comfortable. With an abundance of natural light during the day and the colorful ambiance of a variety of lights at night, we can move through states of joy and bliss. And with no mirrors to distract us, the space invites us to journey inward, to lose ourselves and find ourselves, again and again. |
Accessibility & Parking
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The Spiral Goddess Collective space is beautiful and amazing and almost everything that Sarah could dream of as a space where she can manifest her vision for a Center for Mind/Body Movement and offer her critical/creative arts and activities; however, it is not exactly in line with SGC's mission and vision.
At the heart of downtown, parking is not easy, though street parking does exist and is free after 5 p.m. Spaces are usually available up the hill on State Street, around the corner to the left on Harlow Street, to the right on Exchange Street. If you're having trouble finding parking, the Pickering Square Parking garage is nearby and the first two hours are free. You may have to walk a few minutes to get to The Spiral Goddess Collective, which is a great preparation for our offerings! Further, in the historic downtown Clark Building, there are a lot of stairs (another great facet to your warm-up!) and no elevator which makes the space prohibitive to some bodies and some community members. |
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Indigenous Land and Traditions Acknowledgement
Land acknowledgements have begun to be standard practice for many institutions and organizations, as well as for yoga teachers and studios. These statements aren't just an act of bending to the political climate—they are a recognition that the power-over practices of the past continue to reverberate into the present day, impacting the physical, mental, social, cultural, and economic wellness of individuals, communities, and our nation and keeping inequalities firmly in place.
Toward the larger goals of social justice, it is important to recognize that where we are and what we do does not exits in a vacuum. Both the land and the traditions of indigenous peoples influence and support the work we do at The Spiral Goddess Collective as well as the work that all of us who participate in conscious dance and yoga, specifically, and modern life, generally, participate in and benefit from. What does this mean? Part of our work is not just to acknowledge our debt to indigenous people's and traditions, but also to continue to educate ourselves, to honor these roots, and to participate in and support indigenous movements toward, individual, cultural, and collective healing and self-determination. This work is ongoing but it is only a beginning.
Downtown Bangor and The Clark Building, and thus The Spiral Goddess Collective, a Center for Mind/Body Movement, exist on the unceded homelands of the sovereign people of the Wabanaki Confederacy: the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Mi'kmaq people. The Kenduskeag Stream, a tributary or the Penobscot River, dominates the view from the windows at the front of the SGC center. The Penobscot River continues to be contested territory in the centuries-long struggle for stewardship toward ensuring a healthy ecosystem for all of Maine.
Also framed from this view is the monument to Charles O. Howard, the victim of a hate crime in 1984. While walking down the street, Howard and his boyfriend were harassed for being gay and then Howard was assaulted and thrown over the bridge into the Kenduskeag Stream where he died by drowning.
Bangor, and the State of Maine, are microcosms for the United States where movements for social justice have been ebbing and flowing since before the U.S. officially became a country. As a part of the legacies of racism, sexism, white supremacy, and imperialism we honor the land where we live, love, breathe, work, and find community. We acknowledge that here in the U.S. what we have was built on stolen land and by forced labor. We pay back this debt by keeping our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts open and settling for nothing less than justice, equity, peace, and love.
Finally, yoga's roots are thousands of years old and part of a larger set of traditions from indigenous practices from India, Africa, and other regions in the world--there is nothing new about embodied practices, but many have been lost, forgotten, or forced out of our cultural norms. The yoga practiced and taught at The SGC, a Center for Mind/Body Movement draws on a variety of traditions, mixing styles and approaches that blend breathing, embodied movement, and meditation. Sarah writes more about these practices and approaches in her blog and in her forthcoming book, Demystifying American Yoga: Embodied Movement for Individual and Collective Transformation.
Toward the larger goals of social justice, it is important to recognize that where we are and what we do does not exits in a vacuum. Both the land and the traditions of indigenous peoples influence and support the work we do at The Spiral Goddess Collective as well as the work that all of us who participate in conscious dance and yoga, specifically, and modern life, generally, participate in and benefit from. What does this mean? Part of our work is not just to acknowledge our debt to indigenous people's and traditions, but also to continue to educate ourselves, to honor these roots, and to participate in and support indigenous movements toward, individual, cultural, and collective healing and self-determination. This work is ongoing but it is only a beginning.
Downtown Bangor and The Clark Building, and thus The Spiral Goddess Collective, a Center for Mind/Body Movement, exist on the unceded homelands of the sovereign people of the Wabanaki Confederacy: the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Mi'kmaq people. The Kenduskeag Stream, a tributary or the Penobscot River, dominates the view from the windows at the front of the SGC center. The Penobscot River continues to be contested territory in the centuries-long struggle for stewardship toward ensuring a healthy ecosystem for all of Maine.
Also framed from this view is the monument to Charles O. Howard, the victim of a hate crime in 1984. While walking down the street, Howard and his boyfriend were harassed for being gay and then Howard was assaulted and thrown over the bridge into the Kenduskeag Stream where he died by drowning.
Bangor, and the State of Maine, are microcosms for the United States where movements for social justice have been ebbing and flowing since before the U.S. officially became a country. As a part of the legacies of racism, sexism, white supremacy, and imperialism we honor the land where we live, love, breathe, work, and find community. We acknowledge that here in the U.S. what we have was built on stolen land and by forced labor. We pay back this debt by keeping our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts open and settling for nothing less than justice, equity, peace, and love.
Finally, yoga's roots are thousands of years old and part of a larger set of traditions from indigenous practices from India, Africa, and other regions in the world--there is nothing new about embodied practices, but many have been lost, forgotten, or forced out of our cultural norms. The yoga practiced and taught at The SGC, a Center for Mind/Body Movement draws on a variety of traditions, mixing styles and approaches that blend breathing, embodied movement, and meditation. Sarah writes more about these practices and approaches in her blog and in her forthcoming book, Demystifying American Yoga: Embodied Movement for Individual and Collective Transformation.